Otters

Thursday, March 31, 2011

Trip to the ER

Yesterday was one of those days that started off bad and never changed.

It started with strong thunderstorms for most of the day with hail and possible tornado’s predicted.

Fortunately we never got any hail or tornados and very little wind, but we did get a fair amount of rain. I always worry when severe weather is predicted, so I spent the day monitoring the weather.

By mid afternoon it cleared up so we decided to take the kitties to the vet for their check-ups. Socks needed fluids and Squeaky needed a follow up visit for her liver problem. Our local vet wants her to stay on antibiotics and Prednisone for a longer period. I’m okay with the antibiotics, but I really hate the Prednisone as it is an immune suppressant , and I have also heard that it can bring on diabetes. I guess we’ll go with this regimen though, but I will be doing some research. Squeaky is definitely not feeling 100%.

After we got back home the sun started to shine (finally) so I went down to the house to do some laundry. Al was working in his garage, sorting and cleaning.

He got a phone call, so I brought the phone out to him.

I’m not exactly sure what happened, but I noticed he was falling. It was kind of slow motion, and I was worried that he would hit his head on the concrete, or break a leg when he landed with it under him.

When I got up to him, I noticed his hand was bleeding. Some way, some how, he was on the ground with a fish hook stuck in the bottom of his shoe and another fish hook stuck in his index finger. His foot was underneath him. He couldn’t get up until he got the hook out of the shoe because the shoe and hook was attached to the hook in his finger. I was able to find a tool to cut them apart and then we pulled the hook out of the shoe. That hook only went through the rubber of the shoe, not his foot. Thank goodness.

Then we had to address the hook in his finger. It was in an unopened package of lures with three treble hooks. We weren’t sure exactly what happened, but finally Al figured that he probably stepped on the hook, it became lodged in his shoe, he leaned down to pull it out when he tripped and it pierced his finger. That’s the only thing that made any sense, but we’re still not exactly sure how it happened. Darn…wish I could have gotten it on video :)

He cut the hook at the base so that his finger was at least free from the package of hooks, that had become very bloody by this time. He thought he would be able to get the hook out himself. I was skeptical, but I let him try. Once we realized the barb was inside his finger, we realized a trip to the emergency room would be in order.

One thing about going to an ER in a small town is that we got right in with no wait. Everyone we spoke to, from the first person at the desk, to the nurses, to the doctor, all had comments that they hoped we got a big fish! Of course we had to tell them, he was in his garage!

The doctor stuck 2 needles into the wound to deaden it. Evidently that was extremely painful and poor Al’s face turned beet red. It did the job though because he didn’t have much pain when the Doctor pulled the barb out. He got a tetanus shot, a prescription for pain meds and antibiotics and we were on our way. I’ll bet that was a $1000 visit. Evidently fish hook injuries are very common because they have a preprinted sheet they handed up on how to care from a wound from a fish hook!

The following picture is the treble hook that we cut off. The curved part and the barb was in Al’s finger.

The Doc told us a story about a guy he treated that was riding a bike home from a fishing trip. The hook snagged a tree branch, and he jerked on the line to release the hook. It came down and caught the calf of his leg, and he fell off his bike and broke his hand. Yikes! The Pharmacist said her brother is an ER doctor and he frequently treats fish hook wounds. Who would have thought?

On the way out of the ER, a young man came walking in in swim shorts, no shoes and barefoot. He had bad burns on his legs and feet. We couldn’t figure out how that could have happened, but he was going to be in for some pain. I’m glad we got there first, or we may have had a long wait.

So, we ended up having an eventful day. We came home, cooked a frozen pizza, watched Survivor and went to bed. The pain meds Al was given made him drowsy and he is not planning on taking any more today. I guess we’ll see how the pain is. The Doc said it would probably be pretty painful.

Today is our final day to prepare for our garage sale this week-end. We’re having it Friday and Saturday. Since it’s the first of the month, and the weather is supposed to be nice, we’re hoping for a lot of traffic.

The next pictures are of some spring blooms. These were not taken at our house, but of a beautifully landscaped place in town. They have a family of Swans and they have babies each year.

I was really worried when the title of your post showed up. Jim has had fish hooks stuck in his body also and it is very painful after they get done digging it out. Sure hope Al is doing a whole lot better today. I'm with him on the pain pills. I hate them. Good luck with the garage sale. Really keeping my fingers crossed for you.

Oh my. I was worrying about your kitties and then I read "I noticed he was falling" and my heart jumped as I quickly skimmed a couple of paragraphs to "Thank Goodness". Wow what a day! Thanks for the spring pictures, they helped me relax! :-)

What a scarey thing to happen! OUCH! I'm glad Al is okay and hopefully will be back to normal soon.When we were little kids, my brother got his first fishing pole. He took it to bed and woke up with the hook in his scalp. I don't remember it, but remember the story being re-told. Must have scared my mom!(I don't remember him ever going fishing.)